| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.2

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 109.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Europe: Early Modern and Modern

Pamela Pilbeam. Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks. New York: Hambledon and London. 2003. Pp. xiv, 287. $29.95.
Pamela Pilbeam's wonderful brief account of the Tussaud waxworks is a delight to read. This book tells the amazing story of how one business, founded by an extraordinary eighteenth-century woman, continues to prosper largely intact two centuries later as one of the most popular commercial tourist attractions in the world. Perhaps it is a misnomer to claim Madame Tussaud (1761–1850) as the founder. In fact, she learned the art of making wax models from Phillipe Curtius (1737–1794), who had brought his own "wax salon" to Paris in the 1750s. Madame Tussaud—née Marie Rosholz, originally from Strasbourg and a German speaker, was the daughter of Curtius's housekeeper, and he treated the young Marie as a daughter, teaching her the secrets of his trade. By the 1780s, Curtius's wax salon, situated in the midst of the fashionable and busy Palais Royal, was an attractive stop for aristocrats and foreign tourists, who marveled at the real-life quality of royalty and celebrities sculpted in wax, including Louis XV, Madame du Berry, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Benjamin Franklin.	1
At first, the French Revolution brought a bonanza to Curtius's salon, as visitors paid to follow its progress by seeing images of their favorite revolutionary heroes. Although Curtius's model of Louis XVI was the most popular attraction, Marie's own tableau of the assassinated journalist-politician Jean-Paul Marat in his bathtub became a big hit. Marie later claimed that Jacques-Louis David took the idea for his famous painting from her model. But by then, the Terror had scared the crowds away; the models of prerevolutionary aristocrats and monarchs were too controversial, and the economy had suffered so much that the business was in trouble.	. . .

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